Alagaesia is, like, Totally, Doomed
by MentalDragonLady42
Summary: Evengelina, a sixteen year old high school girl, ends up in Alegaesia. She finds and follows Eragon and Saphira throughout their adventure, and even had a few of her own along the way as the first human woman dragon rider.
1. Chapter 1 The Arival

Evangelina set Eldest down, she loved rereading scenes with Oromis in them. He was her favorite character, along with Glaedr of course.

_I wonder what it would be like to go there . . ._ She thought to herself. _It would be great to be a dragon rider and have my own dragon and meet Oromis and Glaedr._ She imagined flying over Ellesméra on the back of a golden dragon. She could see his wings flap on either side of her, the trees bowing in the wind blow her.

_Yeah . . . That would be great . . ._ After lying on her bed and meditating on that for a while she turned off her lights and put the book away, she had to get to sleep, tomorrow was Wednesday and she had to go to school.

Evangelina, or Eva, as her friends called her, was a tall high school girl. She had average grades, she liked to hang out with her friends after school, she was a Junior, and she loved reading. She was also quite skinny, (she lived in Seattle and Seattleites where very into staying healthy) she had boyish short black hair, black eyes, and was very pretty.

Eva fell asleep almost instantly, even though she wasn't really tired. Most of her dreams where about school and she had one nightmare about being unable to turn in a huge project to her language arts teacher Mr. Danvers. Part way through her dreaming however, she suddenly got the strange and unsettling feeling of free fall. Then a fuzzy image started coming into focus.

"_We must hide the eggs!" said a deep musical voice. _

"_Yes, the Eldunarí as well!" said a female voice. _

_Eva could not see the scene clearly but she could tell that there was a small crowd of very tall people and behind them where sparkly colored cliffs or something. _

"_What say you, Vrael?" A dull shock of surprise bolted through Eva and she thought: What a strange dream I'm having. _

_There was a long pause then Vrael spoke. _

"_Hide them in the rock of Kuthian. That is the safest place for them,"_

Eva awoke from her strange dream with a shiver. Her room was freezing. She got up and looked around. It was winter but usually her house didn't get this cold, it felt like the inside of a freezer.

"Mom! Can I turn the heat on!?" she yelled and opened her door. As soon as she did she screamed, the first genuine scream she had ever screamed.

Instead of the boring carpeted hall that should have been outside her door, there were rolling snow covered hills.

"What the hell!?" she screamed. _Where am I? What happened to Mom and Dad and Kate? Where is my house? Where is my boring carpeted hall!?_

She slammed the door shut and dove back into bed. It was a dream, that was it, just a dream. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep but then remembered that she couldn't fall asleep in a dream and got up and pinched herself. It hurt but nothing happened. She tried it again. Nothing.

Then, taking a deep breath, she got up and opened the door again. _Well, since it isn't a dream I should go and see where I am._ The snowy rolling hills were still there, but this time she took the time to examine them. There were a few leaf less trees but it was mostly hills. The sun was just rising, bathing the snow in warm yellow light. She shivered as she stepped outside and hugged herself trying to get warm.

Her room was on the inside of a large cave, the front of the room was set just at the mouth of the cave so that when she went outside she was walking barefoot in the snow. The room had been somehow torn out of her house and shoved into the cave, she could see the sink and toilet from her bathroom still connected to the other side of the left wall, and the navy blue siding on the right side. There was just enough room for her to squeeze between the room wall and the cave wall to reach the innermost part of the cave, but she went back into the room to look for some warm clothes instead. She found a fluffy North Face jacket, some blue knitted gloves, a pair of thick socks, and a fleece winter hat.

She kept all her casual wear shoes in the kitchen down stairs so the only footwear she had was dress shoes, dressy boots, and slippers. She decided that slippers were the warmest and put those on; they were bright purple and had purple bunny heads on the toes.

She walked out as far as possible and saw that the cave was set in the side of a large rock outcropping that stuck up out of the ground. She walked around the rock a bit and discovered a strong river a few miles away surrounded by forest, she could see the light reflecting off the water through the branches.

She traveled all the way to the opposite side of the rock and was surprised to see what looked like a small city. It was made up of mostly skinny white towers and was shadowed by a cliff. It reminded her of the little picture of Ilirea in Eragon's Guide to Alagaësia.

_I wonder if I could get help there._ She thought. The city was very far away, it would take her most of the day to reach it walking. _Well, I've got nothing to lose. I need to find out where I am, and I need to find out how to get back home._ She walked as fast as she could back to her room and dug her secret stash of snacks out of the closet. It mostly consisted of candy and chips but it was better than no breakfast. She opened a bag of Doritos and popped open a can of warm Coca Cola. When she was finished eating she dumped everything out of her backpack and packed some gummy bears, more soda, rice crackers, and a change of clothes. She wished she had something like beef jerky but junk food would have to do. Then she took a water bottle she found hiding in her closet and walked to the river.

One of the great things about Eva was that she always knew what to do when odd things like this happened, not that she had ever been transported into a cave in her sleep, but when bad things happened she was always a step ahead.

The water in the river was ice cold, she drank from the water bottle then refilled it and put it in the little water bottle pocket on the side of her backpack. Now at least she didn't have to drink soda for energy.

The trees surrounding the river where mostly deciduous but there were a few evergreens amongst them. Eva admired how the trees looked like frosted sweets with the snow piled on top of the branches and icicles hanging below, so when she left the little forest she was sad but she wasn't sad for long. The hills were covered in one foot high snow which made crossing it very difficult; Eva had to lift her feet up to knee height in order to walk. As she walked she began to wish that she had donned the dressy boots instead of the slippers even if they were high healed, at least they wouldn't have gotten soaked. Twice she had to stop to warm her feet by rubbing them in her hands.

When the sun was high in the sky, Eva was nearly there. She could see the white towers clearly, it looked exactly like Ilirea with the cliff hanging over it. _Maybe Paolini got the inspiration for Ilirea from this place._ She thought. It was a spectacular sight but she was far too tired to be interested, all she wanted to do was sit down and rest. So when she reached the outer wall of the city she leaned on it and cleared away the snow with her feet do she could sit. In her tired state it didn't occur to her how odd it was to have a city surrounded by a wall but once she had rested up and drank some water the oddity struck her.

_No one has walls around their cities anymore, there's just no point with airplanes and everything_. She looked up at the wall and was shocked to see a person in armor up there. _Is this some sort of amusement park?_ She wondered. She got up and began walking around the wall searching for an entrance, eventually she found a giant gate where a road connected to the city and a couple solders holding pikes stood guard.

She walked toward the gate in awe until the solders lowered their pikes to bar her way.

"State your business," said the guard on the right. Eva stared at the solder in confusion.

"Um . . . I was wondering where I am. I'm kind of lost," The solder gave her an odd look and said with a sneer:

"This is Urû'baen, doesn't everybody know that?"

"U-Urû'baen?" she asked in astonishment. That was impossible, unless someone decided to make an Urû'baen theme park.

"Yeah, Urûbaen, now what's your business?" the man was looking her up and down as though he had never seen a person wearing a North Face jacket before, but then she remembered that she was still wearing her pajama bottoms and bunny slippers and realized he must be wondering why that was.

"Um . . . Ok, this is going to sound totally crazy but my room like disappeared from by house while I was sleeping and now it's in like a cave and I saw this city and I was all like I could find help there so I walked across the snow over here and got my slippers hella wet and now I'm here and I have no idea what the hell's going on and I'm really hungry cuz all I had to eat was a bag of Doredos." When she was done she had to take a few breaths. Once she caught her breath she looked at the solders expectantly and found that they were staring at her like they thought she was crazy. A long awkward silence followed and Eva began to wonder if they were the ones who were crazy.

"Um . . . Hello?" She waved her hand in front of them. The solder on the left looked at his companion and said:

"Should we let him in?"

"Him?" Eva asked, confused. "You mean me? Cuz I'm a girl." At this both solder's jaws dropped.

"A woman wearing men's clothes!?" the solder on the right asked, rather loudly.

"Um, actually these are in women's sizes and I bought them in the women's section," she said confused. "So there not men's clothes," this only seemed to confuse the solders more. Eva glanced impatiently at the city inside and was astonished to find that the whole place looked like a medieval city. She saw women walking about in dresses carrying infants or holding the hands of toddlers, and men leading horses and loading carts. The streets where all cobblestone, there were more solders carrying swords and spears, she saw a couple dressed like a lord and lady. _Wait! Am I . . . Am I really in Urû'baen? In Alagaësia!?_

She looked back at the two guards with a new understanding of them, and realized that she might not get into the city now that she had rambled about things they didn't understand, they might decide that she was crazy and not let her in.

"Er . . . Was I being confusing before?" The solders starred.

"Um, I was just kidding, I'm not a woman, I'm definitely a man . . . Um, my beard hasn't started to grow yet but I'm sixteen, heh heh," the solder on the right came out of his state of shock first.

"Don't joke about things like that lad!" He said, looking very annoyed.

"Now out with it! What's your business!?"

"I-I need to buy rations for my travels, I'm going to Carvahall,"

"Carvahall? Where's that?"

"It's in Palancar Valley," The guards inspected her for a moment then let her pass with a warning:

"And don' you dare cause any trouble!"

"I won't," she promised, and hoped that she wouldn't. As soon as she entered the crowd, she became confused, there were so many people and the ones closest to her stared, she got shoved around a lot and even pushed to the ground and stepped on. When she finally made it out of the crowd she was in a dark ally. She could see another crowd of people at the other side of the alleyway, she was trapped, it was either the crowd behind her or the crowd in front of her, she paused for a moment and chose the crowd in front of her.

She ran to the other side of the ally and began pushing through the new crowd, exactly what she was looking for she had no idea, perhaps more solid evidence that she was in Alagaësia, perhaps a way back to her own world, either way all she knew at the time was that she wanted to find something, and she did find something, something she really, _really_ did not want to find.

She pushed through the crowd until suddenly she popped out like a piece of popcorn and fell on her face. She could hear the sound of armored feet and horse hooves. The crowd went silent and she had the distinct feeling that she was in a place that she ought not to be, she began lifting herself up but before she could stand up a man yelled:

"Get out of the path of your king!" She got a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach; she looked up and saw a beautiful horse drawn carriage surrounded by solders. It was carved and gilded, and had purple velvet curtains on the windows. Then she noticed the solder standing in front, he was glaring at her and she immediately knew that she was in more trouble than she had ever been in her entire life, combined!

"Er . . . Sorry?"

"Sorry!? Sorry!? You're not getting away with a sorry!" She began to shake, mainly with nervousness, she had no idea what to do and she was pretty sure no one in the now silent crowd was willing to help her, and on top of all that she was pretty sure that Galbatorix was the one inside that carriage and he definitely wasn't going to let her off with a sorry and an awkward curtsy.

"Um . . . I'm really, _really_ sorry?" The man gave her a strange look.

"What's going on?" a deep velvety voice said from inside the carriage. The hair on the back of Eva's neck stood on end as she heard the voice, definitely Galbatorix's. She really had screwed up this time!

The solder that had confronted her walked over to the carriage with a look of dread upon his face, when he reached the door he opened it a crack and talked to the king in a quiet voice that Eva could not hear. As they spoke Eva started inching toward the crowd hoping that no one would notice, but before she could go more than two inches the solder came back and announced:

"His majesty: King Galbatorix!" Eva froze to the core. _Is he coming out to punish me himself!?_ Cold sweat began pouring down her neck and she went pale.

A solder opened the door to the carriage, a foot came out, then another, the people within view of the king gasped and bowed. Then the door closed and she could see him, he looked exactly as he was described in the books. He had tan skin, a sharp face, an old golden crown on his head, eyes as black as his hair, a short beard and his body was built like a wardrobe. His dragon hide cape swooshed as he turned and walked toward her.

Her heart began pounding like crazy and she kept her arms tight against her body. What would he do? Would he whip her? Cast a spell of pain? Kill her?

When he was close enough to put his arm on her shoulder he stopped and looked down at her, he didn't look particularly angry, he looked more intrigued, interested.

"What is your name?" he asked in his velvety voice.

"Evangelina!" She squeaked. He nodded to himself and repeated her name several times as if trying to memorize it. "Evengelina, Evengelina . . . Evangelina . . ." She was as stiff as a board.

"Where are you from Evangelina?" He asked with a smile.

"Seattle, Washington!" She blurted without thinking. _No wait! I can't say that!_ But too late, she had said it.

"Seattle, Washington? Where is that?"

"Ah . . . America . . ." _I may as well tell the truth from now on._ She thought.

"America . . . That isn't in Alagaëia is it?"

"No," He considered her for a moment, taking in her face, her jacket, her hat, her soggy slippers and pajama bottoms, then he said:

"Come and ride in my carriage. You will sleep in the citadel tonight."


	2. Chapter 2 The Hatching

Galbatorix showed Eva inside the carriage. The seats were soft and cushy and the walls were covered in padded silk. Galbatorix sat next to her and the solder closed the door behind him. Being in an enclosed space with Galbatorix made Eva even more nervous. What was he planning on doing with her?

As the carriage began moving again Galbatorix turned to Eva.

"So, is America a country?" Eva jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Ah, yes. The United States of America," He cocked his head, his pitch black eyes bore into her like drill bits.

"An unusual name for a country," he mused, "What is it like? Is it across the sea?"

"No, it's in another world," At this Galbatorix smiled and looked even more interested.

"Another world?" he asked and leaned closer to her. Eva blushed, she knew he was evil but his voice was extremely attractive.

Then he placed his hand on hers, his hand was very rough and cold, then with his other hand he took off her fleece hat, and he kissed her forehead. Eva's entire face turned beat red. _Creepy!_ She shouted in her mind.

He dropped the hat on the seat next to her and rested his arm on her shoulder. He was so close to her that she could feel the warmth of his body. _What is he doing!?_

"You are on unusual woman, Evangelina. Not many women in Alagaësia dare to wear their hair as you do." He was referring to her boyish short hair. He looked into her eyes and she could see the madness in them, as well as a fake affection. _Is he trying to seduce me?_

"As king of Alagaësia I will personally make sure that you feel welcome here. Now what is your world called?"

"Er . . . Earth?" _That's probably what they call this world too._ She felt his leg touch hers and she involuntarily shifted away.

"Why do you resist me? You like me don't you?" With that he moved his head even closer to her so that she could feel his warm breath on her neck.

She wished dearly that her fear wouldn't show but she couldn't keep it out of her face, her eyes grew wide like a fish's and she began sweating even more.

"You have no reason to fear me," he said in his most seductive voice yet. "I want you to feel at home here, with me," Suddenly Eva couldn't take it anymore, she tried to move away from him but his grip was like an iron clamp, she couldn't break away. He opened his mouth to say something but just then the carriage stopped and the solder opened the door.

Galbatorix smiled and stepped out of the carriage. Relived she followed, grabbing her hat off the seat; with an impressive swoosh of his cape he took her hand and helped her out of the carriage.

"You!" He pointed to the solder who had confronted her in the street. "Take Evangelina to the best guest room and find some clothes and jewelry for her, clothes fitting of a lady," And he walked away with the rest of his guards. As Eva followed her guide through the front doors she wondered if Galbatorix wanted something from her for some reason. What other reason would he have for doing what he just did? _He obviously thinks that I can be useful to him. But why would he think that? Is it because I'm from another world? Either way it's really creepy!_ The solder led her to a room with beautifully decorated walls and a four poster bed.

"This will be your room, I will have a servant bring you clothes and jewelry,"

"Ah, I can do without the jewelry thanks," The solder left and Eva was alone. She sat down on the bed and found it to be very comfortable. It was very warm in the citadel so she removed her jacket and threw her hat on the bed_. Now what am I going to do?_ She wondered, and flopped on her back.

The time away from Galbatorix gave her the opportunity to gather her thoughts. _So I'm in Alagaësia, I've been pretty much captured by Galbatorix, and I think he wants to interrogate me about my world. Great, I didn't want to go to school today but this isn't really my idea of skipping class. Not that I've ever skipped before_.

_If Galbatorix finds out about those books in my room he'll want them, and then the Varden and the elves and the dwarves will be dead meat. I guess the best plan it to play dumb until I can find a way to escape. I mean I know I'm not from here but I would feel pretty bad if they all got killed because of me, especially Oromis and Glaedr. Oh, yeah, and I know about them, I can't let that slip! _

_I wonder if Brom's had that dude steal Saphira's egg yet . . . I can't tell by what I've seen so far . . . I can't ask anybody or Galbatorix will get suspicious, I'll just have to wait until someone says something about it. _

Soon a servant girl came in and filled the wardrobe with clothes and set a wooden jewelry box down on her nightstand-whatever-it-was-called-thing. _I thought I said I didn't want jewelry._

The girl looked about eighteen or nineteen, with dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes. She was pale and rather plane looking with a few light freckles. Eva was rather annoyed with her because she kept glancing in her direction.

"Um, sorry. But why do you keep glancing at me like that?" The girl jumped and emitted a little squeak as though she had been caught stealing. She nervously turned and curtseyed.

"I'm sorry ma 'lady. It's just that you're so beautiful. I'm really very sorry ma 'lady." _Ma 'lady?_ _Beautiful?_ She knew she wasn't ugly but she had never thought of herself as particularly beautiful.

"Um, It's no problem. What's your name?" The girl looked up from her curtsey with surprise.

"I am Gelsey, you're personal maid ma 'lady." _Personal maid? I've never had a personal maid before._ Gelsey awkwardly went back to her work then when she opened the door to leave Eva called:

"Thank you!" Gelsey turned in obvious surprise, then she curtsied again, a bit awkwardly, and said:

"It is only my job ma 'lady, please don't thank me," _Oh yeah, that's right._ Eva thought as the girl left. _They have slaves here, people don't thank slaves. Oh well._ Putting the girl out of her mind she looked through the new clothes in the wardrobe. They were all dresses, they were very pretty, but very old fashioned. Of course she had expected that but she couldn't help being a little disappointed. _I don't like wearing dresses. They get in the way when I'm walking._ She looked down at herself, her pajama bottoms were soaked and dirty, her slippers looked like a pair of mud balls, and her t-shirt was drenched in sweat. _Well, maybe I should change anyway._

She chose a nice blue dress with lace on the sleeves and hem. It took her about two hours to figure out how to put it on, at first she had tried putting it on over her head, then she had fiddled with the ties on the back, then she tried both, eventually she figured it out, or at least she figured it out enough to get it on.

After that ordeal she opened the jewelry box, there were lots of sparkling gems and gold chains inside. She tried on several necklaces and decided on wearing one with pearls and sapphires. After choosing the necklace she decided that that was enough jewelry and closed the box. _Ok, now what?_ There didn't seem to be anything for her to do except sit and wait_. I could explore the citadel but I don't know if I would get in trouble for that or not._ It seemed natural to be able to explore a bit but she felt like more of a prisoner than an honored guest.

She debated on that for a few minutes but just when she finally decided to go and explore, a slave boy opened the door and announced:

"His majesty the king requests your presence ma'am," _Oh, ok._ She thought, but then remembered that she would have to deal with Galbatorix's creepy-ass again. _Oh, wonderful, I'm so happy. _

The boy led her to the king's chambers, along the way she saw the big picture-carving-thing of the races of Alagaësia, as described in Inheritance. The door to Galbatorix's chambers was wide and made of oak wood, it didn't look particularly special. The boy knocked on the door, then opened it.

"Evangelina, your majesty,"

"Let her in," she heard him order, and the boy opened the door further to let Eva in.

Galbatorix was lounging in an expensive looking chair by the window on the far side on the room. His bed was positioned on the left wall and to the right was another room filled with clothing and jewels. At the rightmost wall of the other room there was a curtain covering the entire wall, which was quite large_. Is that were Shruikan is? He has a curtain in this room too?_ In confirmation of her theory she heard a faint growl from behind the curtain.

"Welcome," Eva turned her attention from Shruikan's curtain and looked at the king. He had a very friendly looking smile upon his face.

"I hope you have found my world to your liking," he said sounding friendly.

"Yeah, I guess," His smile grew wider and he stood.

"Do you like your room? If not I can have another readied for you."

"Ah, no that's fine," _What am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to bow to him? Ew! No!_

Galbatorix pointed to a chair and said: "Sit," she obeyed and sat right across from him.

"I am very interested in this Unites States of America that you are from," he said, "What is it like?" _Really, I just have to describe America?_

"Well, it's really big, and it's part of North America, and then South America's beneath it . . . Aaaand, well, there are fifty states all with their own federal governments and I lived in the state of Washington, my home city is Seattle." she paused waiting for a reply but he only waited, looking at her, a bit creped out she continued: "Seattle is pretty cool, it rains a lot and we have the Space Needle which is this super tall building in downtown Seattle. Oh, and then we have coffee," _He probably had no idea what coffee is._ "Seattleites are all about coffee." She mostly talked about random things that she happened to think of, she even mentioned flying saucers and conspiracy theories, Galbatorix mostly listened with a look of great concentration on his face, but every once in a while he would ask a question, once he asked about cars when she was going on and on about the bad traffic in Seattle, and again about airplanes when she mentioned flying to New York, then a third time about computers and the internet. Eventually, when she was running out of things to talk about, he asked: "And what of magic? Are there spell casters in your United States of America?"

The question startled Eva, she hadn't thought of mentioning that.

"No one uses magic as far as I know," this seemed to interest the king.

"No magic? Then how do you make these airplanes and computers?"

"You don't use magic to make them, it's just technology." There was a long silence as he took in the information. Eva wasn't too worried about telling him this stuff, there weren't many things that he would be interested in her world. Yeah, sure, computers and cell phones sounded cool, but what would Galbatorix use them for? He wouldn't even be able to use cell phones without cell phone towers. The only things she was careful not to mention were guns, nuclear bombs, and radar; he would definitely be interested in that.

"A magic less world, how unusual. Tell me Evangelina would you be interested in learning magic?"

_Not from you, you creepy bastard!_ "Yeah, I guess that would be cool." He looked at her some more, his gaze was not quite a stare, it wasn't that intense, but his eyes didn't move from her face.

"Cool?"

"Uh . . ." The question was so unexpected that her mind went blank for a moment. _Oh yeah, he doesn't know what cool means._

"Well its sort of a slang term you use when you're talking about something popular . . . or something . . ." She wasn't really sure how to explain it.

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

"Wha?" That question was even more unexpected.

"Well no . . . Not really . . ."

"You have never had the experience of lovesickness?"

"I guess not . . ." He looked at her for another minute then he stood:

"Come with me, Evangelina." She was starting to find it really creepy how he called her by her full name, most people just called her Eva or Rei, but then again she didn't want him getting to familiar with her.

She stood obediently and followed him out the door.

"Sooooo, where are we going?" He didn't answer. A few servants and nobles starred at her as they walked by, mostly because of her short hair she guessed.

"Ok, walking down the hall to unknown places, really fun," Silence.

"Hello. Earth to Galbatorix," Soon they went into a dark dungeon and Galbatorix stopped at a large marble door. He muttered some unintelligible words and it began to open. It opened very slowly and silently, Eva was sure that the doors were magic, not because of the words Galbatorix had chanted, but because of their silence, doors of that size usually weren't that quiet.

When the doors were fully opened they revealed a dark room, Galbatorix began walking into the darkness and Eva nervously followed. _I don't like this. I really don't like this._ His wardrobe-like form was difficult to see in the darkness so she could only follow him by the sound of his foot falls.

Suddenly his footsteps stopped, and she ran unto him. He irritably pushed her away then said something, Eva guessed, in the ancient language. At his command torches lit up all along the walls. The room they were in was very spacious, she couldn't even see the ceiling. When she looked down she gasped. The room was filled with eldunarí! Hundreds of them! Most were around the size of a soccer ball but there were a few that were much larger. They glittered like thousands of jewels, like Smog's hoard from the Hobbit. She felt sorry for them being trapped in here, slaves to Galbatorix, she wished she could do something for them.

Then she noticed that Galbatorix's attention was not on the eldunarí, but on a little pedestal in the center of the room. There was a red cushion on the pedestal and on the cushion were eggs, three eggs. _Wait, three!?_ One was green, one red, and one as white as the snow outside_. Where's Saphira's egg? Or is this some kind of alternate Inheritance where Saphira doesn't exist? In that case, the guy that Brom sends hasn't come to steal an egg yet. _

"There were once four of them," said the king in a mourning voice. _Ok, so he has stolen it_. She couldn't help but notice how pretty the white egg was; it looked like a huge oval of snow. _I wonder where that one came from. _ She thought_. Wait! Was he trying to find out my true name before!? With the weird questions about my love life and stuff!? Then does he think that one of these might hatch for me!? Well I know the red and green ones won't, but I'm not sure about that white one, where the hell did that come from? There was nothing in the books about a white egg!_

Galbatorix turned and ordered:

"Place your hand on the green one. And don't remove your hand until I say so." _Yep, he does think one will hatch._ She nervously walked up to the pedestal and placed her hand on Fírnen's egg_. I guess being a dragon rider would be cool but I would be Galbatorix's slave too, that would take all the fun out of it. _

She waited with her hand on the egg until Galbatorix instructed her to move to the red egg. _Hello Thorn. Nice to meet you._ Then finally he had her move to the white egg. This egg, she thought, was particularly beautiful. It was completely paper white, and where the light hit the shell it shone rainbow. She could just barely make out the little white veins underneath the shell. Without even realizing it she picked it up and began cradling it like a baby. She had forgotten all about Galbatorix watching her, and the enslaved eldunarí, she simply enjoyed cradling the egg.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud squeak. Eva jumped in surprise, and realized that the sound had come from the egg. Her first reaction was joy. _I'm going to be a rider!_ But then she remembered Galbatorix. _Oh, no it's hatching. I don't want to be a slave!_ A feeling of dread engulfed her, she began sweating, and she noticed that a pleased smile had crept across Galbatorix's face.

There was another loud squeak; Galbatorix was watching with great intensity, rather like a starving wolf, it made her uneasy, but she tried not to show it. The egg began rocking in her arms, and she placed it back on the cushion. A crack appeared, then another, and another, until there was a little spot of cracks all connecting at one point. Then a head began to emerge. It was white like the egg, with little bits of rainbow where the light reflected off its scales.

Next was the body and wings, then the tail, and it was completely out of the egg. Eva watched the little dragon lick the sticky egg membrane off itself with its tiny pink tongue. It was both adorable and majestic at the same time. She felt the urge to pick it up and hug it. She reached out with her right hand and the dragon stopped in its licking to stretch out its neck and reach for her. As soon as her skin touched its scales, an ice cold energy traveled up her arm and instantly spread throughout her body until her veins burned as if on fire. A metallic clang rang in her ears and a piercing scream of rage lingered. It seemed like hours before she could move again, when she was aware of her surroundings she found that she was laying on the floor with the little dragon sitting on her stomach. She lifted her head and looked it in the eyes. She was still shivering from the shock and her body was still cold as though she were still outside in the snow.

She felt the skin on the palm of her right hand tingle and itch like a spider bite, she looked at it and watched as her gedwëy ignasia formed and she felt her mind begin to wander into the open as though a barrier had just been removed from around her mind. She didn't have much time to think about this though.

"Up!" Galbatorix ordered. She picked the dragon up and stood cradling it in her arms. Galbatorix was smiling unpleasantly, he looked rather exited or happy, or both.

"The white one. Hmm. You will call it Umaroth."

"No way."

"What did you say!?"

"I said: No way." If she was going to be Galbatorix's slave she at least wanted to let her dragon name itself like it was supposed to.

"You dare defy me!?" He said a couple of words in the ancient language then commanded her to call her dragon Umaroth.

"The answer is still no." He looked shocked at her reply, then his face became twisted with anger. He shouted a pair of different words in the ancient language. Nothing.

"Um, it that supposed to do something?"

"It is your true name_!" My true name? But I don't feel any different when he says it. I thought I was supposed to be able to tell or something. Or maybe he's just wrong. Yeah, he's definitely wrong._

"I don't think so, better luck next time." He threw together some more words. Still nothing.

"Forth time's the charm, or something . . ." Another try.

"Oh! Five strikes!" She thought that if she was going to be his slave she may as well torture him as much as possible too.

Now he just seemed to be throwing random words together hopping that they would be right.

"Nope,"

"Notta,"

"Sorry,"

"You're really good at this. In a really bad way." Finally he became so enraged that he punched her right in the nose. She felt and heard the crack as her nose broke, she fell to the floor and ended up with a bruised elbow.

"Stop talking!" For the first time he sounded truly mad, he was screaming incoherently at her, making accusations that she was about as valuable as horse dung, and that she was a horrible person who should be burned at the stake and her ashes fed to pigs. Eva held her bleeding nose and starred at him, it was very frightening. She was instantly sorry she had mocked him, every time he looked at her or pointed at her she flinched fearing that he would hit her again. The newly hatched dragon squeaked loudly and buried its face in her blue skirts. She hugged it in her arms, protecting it from Galbatorix's wrath.

Eventually he ran out of breath and things to scream about and resolved to simply glaring at her, his face still twisted with mad anger. She wanted to say 'Um, sorry?' but resisted because she knew that it would only set him off again. They stared at each other for a long while until he eventually grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her all the way back to the room she had been given.

"Stay in here," He said in a low grumbling voice that made him sound like a child whose toy has been taken away.

Once again she was in her room, but this time with a baby dragon. She had it cradled in her arms and it was quite content, but as soon as she sat down on the bed it woke up and began squeaking loudly, mouth open like a baby bird. In her mind she could sense that it was very hungry, but she had no food for it, she looked at her backpack, she still had her junk-food-rations in it, but she didn't think that would make for a very good first meal. She tried opening the door, locked.

She placed the dragon on the bed and held her breath as she reset her broken nose. She sat there scratching its head until it's squeals became so shrill that she finally gave up and opened the backpack.

"It's ok, I have food in here." She said holding a handkerchief she had found to her nose. "See? Want some chips?" She opened a bag of lays potato chips and offered one to the dragon, it sniffed the chip curiously then began squealing again_. Ok, potato chip equals squealing. Got it._ She pulled out some rice crackers and offered one to it, it turned that down too.

"Seriously!? Why are you so picky!? I thought you were dying of hunger!" The dragon looked at her for a moment then continued ranting. She desperately pulled out the gummy bears and warm soda, the dragon sniffed the gummy bears for a moment and snapped up a couple. It chewed and swallowed, then paused for a moment, and began attacking the bag like a mad wolf. _ I guess dragons like gummy bears_. It only took it a minuet to clean out the entire bag_. I guess I won't be eating gummy bears ever again._ She thought sorrowfully, then it struck her, the full gravity of her situation_. I have no way of getting back! I'm never going to see my family or friends again!_ A sense of overwhelming sorrow enveloped her and she curled up into a ball in a corner of the bed, the dragon came padding along with her, head cocked to one side. She felt a questioning feeling coming from it but she ignored that and began crying, thinking of her mother and father and little sister.

She cried for a few minutes while the dragon pawed at her leg, a confused sensation emitting from its thoughts. When she was done she reached down and scratched its head, it made a purring sound in its throat. _I guess you're my family now._ She told it, it cocked its head again, listening. _You're a pretty dragon aren't you?_ She thought to it as she admired how the light made little rainbows on its scales, while two ice-white eyes starred up at her_. I get why Galbatorix wanted me to name you Umaroth. You look just like him, white scales, white eyes. _ The dragon simply watched and listened.

"I wonder why he wasn't able to find my true name . . . He's supposed to be really good at it . . ." She thought about it for a while, considering everything that had happened and when she came by the answer it was so simple and so shocking that she nearly stood up.

"I have no true name! That's it! I come from another world without magic and without true names so that must mean I have no true name!" The dragon let out a squeak at her excitement. "This is great! Now I won't have to do as he says! But I'll still have to deal with his spells . . . He'll be able to keep me here anyway." She thought for a moment. "I'll just have to wait until there's a chance for me to escape, like right now!" She approached the door, of course it was still locked but she remembered from the first book how Eragon had escaped Gil'ead, by turning the locking mechanism with his mind. She clumsily groped around with her thoughts until she found the lock and gently prodded it until the lock began to move, she had to strain to move it all the way into the unlocked position but she finally made it and pushed the door open, panting_. That was harder than I thought it would be. Wait, what am I doing out here? I need to get the dragon and my backpack._ She closed the door and put on her backpack, she cringed as the sweat drenched back of it touched her back. Oh well, it'll have to do for now. Then she noticed that her dress would get in the way, she tied it up around her waist and picked the dragon up by the shoulders, like a cat and carried it to the door.


	3. Chapter 3 The Proposal

The hall was dark and grey, and she felt as though thousands of people were watching her sneak around_. I would feel better if I had my sword._ Eva owned a katana sword which was kept in her room of course. She had taken lessons as a child and had nearly mastered it, she also had a bow for her archery lessons but all of her arrows where rubber tipped.

She looked tentatively around a corner, no one there, and slid along the wall. She could not help but feel as though she was being watched, she tried to tell herself that no one could possibly be watching her, but she couldn't shake the feeling. Then she remembered scrying, Galbatorix could scry her at any time and see what she was up to_. Damn. I wish I had one of those ani-scrying necklaces._ The dragon began to squirm as it noticed a fat rat in the shadows.

"No, you can hunt when were out of here. Just leave it." She whispered. They made it past the rat without trouble, and made it to the door she had come in. She impressed upon the dragon the importance of staying quiet and slowly opened the door. It was a small side door probably used by servants and solders but it worked just fine for her purposes.

She stepped outside and was startled to find a large dark figure waiting for her, Galbatorix. He grabbed her wrists in an iron grasp and looked down on her with his dark eyes.

"Are you trying to leave me? When I was so hospitable? I am ashamed that a guest of mine would go to such lengths to leave me." He said in his sweet, rounded voice. His grip tightened until it hurt.

"Please don't go. You see, I've fallen in love with you. I couldn't bear to see you leave." Eva was shocked at his fake revelation, it was so unexpected that she nearly believed it. _What he won't say to manipulate people! God!_

"Let go of me!" She demanded and tried to free herself, but just like before, his grasp was like an iron claw. The dragon opened its mouth and promptly bit Galbatorix on the wrist.

"Gah!" She was surprised to see blood trickle out of several tooth marks, but he still had hold of her.

"You're not leaving," He snarled. "I won't let you." _The only way out of this is if I use magic. But how? _She remembered Eragon describing it like a little dark bump in the back of his mind, and then somehow he broke into it and used magic. She searched for the dark bump but wasn't having much luck. Galbatorix was leading her back inside, back into his room.

He threw her into a chair, dragon and all, and began pacing. Eva could tell he was thinking hard about something, probably about how to make her do as he wished. He paced and paced until finally he stopped and smiled at her. It was a very friendly smile but it still creeped her out.

He came over to her and got down on one knee. _What the hell is he doing now?_ He took her hands in his and said:

"My love, will you marry me?" _He really is mad! He's totally insane!_ "I'm very sorry for my rude behavior before, I was simply shy." _Shy my ass._ "I simply did not know how to approach you. I hope you will forgive me." All she could do was stare at him, mouth wide open_. I'm not marrying him. Not even if he promised to let me go afterwards. I'm not marrying him!_

He waited for her answer with a very hopeful look on his face_. How am I going to get myself out of this one?_ She glanced at the dragon who was looking between them, not understanding. Taking a deep breath she decided to give him the best answer she had.

"Um, sorry. But I'm gonna have to say no." Galbatorix's face fell.

"Say no? Why?" His gold crown sparkled as he cocked his head slightly. "My dear Evangelina, you must see that I cannot go on without you. In only a short time I have fallen for you. You would be my queen; you would have all of my empire under your control. I would shower you with the finest jewelry in Alagësia, and above all I would love you as though you were the only woman in the world! Please reconsider."

"Ah, well . . . that's nice and all but I really don't love you, sorry. You see where I come from people usually don't fall in love in like ten minutes." _Is this his great plan to keep me here?_

"Oh, but it wasn't ten minutes, it was love at first site! At the very moment I lay eyes on you I knew. That is why I brought you here, why I showed you the eggs, my treasure. Because I love you." _ So annoying. God! _Then she tried a different route.

"Yeah, I'm not really into royalty. I really want to marry a . . . a blacksmith! Yeah, so not really into kings and stuff." _That didn't sound convincing at all._ Suddenly his mood changed to anger again.

"You fool! You should have agreed to marriage! I will make sure you suffer for this! You will marry me and you will swear your loyalty to me!" _Ah great! This sucks!_ She wasn't sure what to say to get herself out of it, she was sent to her room while Galbatorix made preparations for their royal marriage.

_When I said I didn't want to go to school I didn't mean this! _ She lay on her bed with her dragon coiled up next to her. Before Galbatorix had sent her to her room he had explained the concept of Dragon Riders to her, since he still didn't know that she knew. He had explained a few things that weren't in the book as well, things that Paolini hadn't been able to fit in but mostly it was stuff she already knew.

She watched the dragon's stomach expand and contract as it breathed, and she thought about what had happened. _I can't believe it's only been one freaking day._

Gelsey came in and brought her dinner and she realized that she hadn't eaten since her meager breakfast. She scarfed the food not even thinking about what it was she was eating.

She realized then, that in only a few short hours she had become an Alagaësian without even noticing it. She was a Dragon Rider, she was getting married to Galbatorix, which would make her a citizen of the Empire_. I don't want to marry him!_ She thought and covered her head with a pillow.

_But I'm a Rider! I can kill Galbatorix! I just have to do what Eragon did, without Eragon! I don't need him! He's kind of annoying anyway._ She turned over and watched the dragon some more. _It really does look like Umaroth. I bet the elves will be surprised when they see it. A great white dragon coming to save Alagaësia!_ She reached out and scratched its tiny head, it made a purring sound. _So cute!_


	4. Chapter 4 The Marriage

A hoard of rich lords and ladies crowded the hall where Galbatorix normally received guests. Instead of a large open hall there were pews on either side of the long carpet that led to the throne and nearly every lord and lady in the land was occupying them. Lord Fendrel of Beirland was standing at the throne, waiting to marry them.

Eva was waiting behind a dark side door, dressed in a frilly light blue dress; Gelsey had forced her into a corset that shrunk her waist until her ribs where about ready to break. _I can't breathe! Need! Air! _She fanned herself with her hand trying to get more air into her lungs. Her hair was tied back in a fancy pattern; Galbatorix had used magic to grow it out to a more "lady like" length. Now her hair fell to her waist when it was undone.

The little dragon lay coiled up next to her, he, for Galbatirix had told her it was a he, was going to enter the room with her. Galbatorix was waiting behind the door opposite hers; they would walk up the carpet together. _This is so embarrassing! I don't want to marry him! I wish we could just sign a paper and be done with it! _

Suddenly the lords and ladies began singing, she didn't pay attention to the words, she didn't particularly care what the words were, she was more concerned about getting it over with and taking the corset off.

"Ma 'lady. It's almost time for you to enter." Gelsey said, fussing with Ava's hair. Ava and Cass where the two girls who would carry the long train that draped from Eva's dress

"Yeah." She replied. She was crouched close to the floor, gasping for air.

"Ma 'lady you mustn't crouch like that! You will dirty you're skirts!"

"I don't care about my dam skirts." She was in a very bad mood. It was bad enough that she had to marry Galbatorix and that he had foiled her escape last night yet again, but she had to suffocate wearing a stupid corset.

"Now, my queen. You must be the picture of perfection when you enter." Said Lady Lorelle of Belatona, a tall beautiful woman with flowing golden locks. She would be acting as Eva's mother in the ceremony since she had no family in Alagaësia.

"This sucks. God dammit."

"Ma 'lady!" Gelsey gasped. "You mustn't swear like that! You are such a beautiful queen! Please do not mar your beauty with such foul language!"

"How the hell does my language mar my beauty!?" She snapped. Lady Lorelle sighed, she had gotten to know Eva over the few weeks it took to prepare for the wedding, and during those weeks Eva had grown more and more short tempered, so Lady Lorelle was used to her swearing. Gelsey however, would have nothing of it. Every time Eva swore she made sure to correct her, politely.

Suddenly Eva heard a change in the music and she knew it was her queue to enter. She stood, grabbed her bouquet and Gelsey opened the door for her. Ava and Cass picked up her train and they began walking in slow precise steppes.

Galbatorix emerged from the opposite door dressed in fine clothes and his usual dragon skin cloak. Eva did not yet wear a crown, Lady Jolecia, waited next to her husband Lord Fendrel holding a purple velvet cushion with a gold crown resting on it.

Gelsey was the only one who stayed behind in the dark hall, slaves weren't allowed into the room until the feast. Lady Lorelle walked a few paces behind Eva, behind Galbatorix walked Morzan, a stand in for Galbatorix's father.

Eva had been shocked to see Morzan walking about one day before the wedding. Apparently Eragon had not been born yet, that would explain his lack of dead-ness. His red dragon, whom Eva liked to call what's-his-face-dragon, stood behind the pews as he would not fit in the aisle.

Eva and Galbatorix walked up the aisle together without touching. Lady Lorelle had instructed her to walk with her back straight and with purpose but she ignored that advice and slumped a little. She wasn't in the mood to look nice for these people.

Everyone in the hall gasped as they beheld the little white dragon walking along side Eva. Galbatorix had not told the guests about him, and they certainly had not expected their future queen to be a Dragon Rider.

Galbatorix watched her out of the corner of his eye, but Eva paid him no mind. They reached the throne and stopped in front of Lord Fendrel.

Then Lord Fendrel raised his hands and began: "Welcome, one and all. Today we have come together to celebrate the union between our king Galbatorix Filmoresson and Evangelina Robinsdaughter. They are both of good reputation, and to the best of my knowledge, no one else has a claim upon their hands. If that not be the case, however, or if any other reason exists that they should not become man and wife, then make your objections known before these witnesses, that we may judge the merit of your arguments." Lord Fendrel paused for an answer. The room was silent as no one dared object, and after a few moments he continued: "Who here speaks for his majesty king Galbatorix Filmoresson?"

Morzan stepped forward: "My king has neither father nor uncle, so I, Morzan Barlowsson, speak for him as by blood."

"And who here speaks for Evangelna Robinsdaughter?"

Lady Lorelle stepped forward then. "Evangelina has neither mother nor aunt, so I, Lorelle Dulcinasdaughter, speak for her as my blood."

"It is right and proper. What, then, does his majesty king Galbatorix Filmoresson bring to this marriage, that both he and his wife may prosper?"

"He brings his titles." Said Morzan in a board voice. "He brings his Empire. He brings his powers as a Dragon Rider. And he brings a crown." Lady Jolecia held up the velvet cushion with the crown on it.

"Do you accept this offer, Lorelle Dulcinasdaugter?" Lord Fendrel asked.

"I do." Lady Lorelle answered.

"And what does Evangelina Robinsdaughter bring to this marriage, that both she and her husband may prosper?"

"She brings her love. She brings her title as Dragon Rider. She brings her ability to bear an heir." _Bear an heir? What!?_ "And she brings a dowry." _Wait! No one said anything about bearing an heir before!_ Eva had left Lady Lorelle up to the things she would bring, since she didn't really care what she brought as long as it was something, but she definitely did not like bearing an heir. _I'm not bearing anyone's heir!_

She looked back at Lady Lorelle as her husband Lord Bradburn, brought an ornate box up. The fair Lady gave her a good humored smile and Eva glared.

Lord Brandburn opened the box to reveal a lump of sparkling jewelry. Eva was the only one who was surprised, she had never seen so much precious jewelry in one place in her life, not even in the little box Galbatorix had sent to her.

Lady Lorelle lifted the first piece of jewelry from the box. "She brings with her a silver necklace studded with opal. She brings a gold bracelet inlayed with mother of pearl. She brings a pearl net to hold her hair." _All right all right already._ Eva thought as Lady Lorelle described each piece in the box. Lady Lorelle had provided her dowry. Eva had tried to refuse it but she had insisted, Eva had thought it would just be money; she was shocked to find that it was all this expensive jewelry.

When she was finally done she latched the box and Lord Fendrel asked: "Do you accept this offer, Morzan Barlowsson?"

"I do."

"Thus your families become one, in accordance with the law of the land." Then he spoke to Eva and Galbatorix directly: "Those who speak for you have agreed upon the terms of your marriage. Your majesty Galbatorix, are you pleased with how Morzan Barlowsson has negotiated on your behalf?"

"I am."

"And, Evangelina, are you pleased with how Lorelle Dulcinasdaughter has negotiated on your behalf?"

"I am." Eva sighed.

"Your majesty Galbatorix, son of Filmore, do you swear then, by your name and by your lineage, that you shall protect and provide for Evangelina Robinsdaughter while you both yet live?"

"I, Galbatorix, King of the Empire, son of Filmore, do swear, by my name and by my lineage, that I shall protect and provide for Evangelina Robinsdaughter while we both yet live."

"Do you swear to uphold her honor, to remain steadfast and faithful to her in the years to come, and to treat her with the proper respect, dignity, and gentleness?"

"I swear I shall uphold her honor, remain steadfast and faithful to her in the years to come, and to treat her with proper respect, dignity, and gentleness." _Like hell you will._ Eva thought.

"And do you swear to give her the keys to your holdings, such as they may be, and to your strongbox where you keep your coin, by sunset tomorrow, so she may tend to your affairs as a wife should?"

Galbatorix swore he would. _Dude, we all know he won't anyway._

"Evangelina, daughter of Robin, do you swear, by your name and by your lineage, that you shall serve and provide for his majesty Galbatorix Filmoresson while you both yet live?" _No way in hell._

"I, Evangelina, daughter of Robin, do swear, by my name and by my lineage, that I shall serve and provide for his majesty Gabatorix Filmoresson while we both yet live." _Filmore . . . That's such a weird name . . ._

"Do you swear to uphold his honor, to remain steadfast and faithful to him in the years to come, to bear his children while you may, and to be a caring mother for them?" _I don't wanna be a mother dammit! _

"I swear I shall uphold his honor, remain steadfast and faithful to him in the years to come, bear his children while I may, and be a caring mother for them."

"And you swear to assume charge of his wealth and his possessions, and to manage them responsibly, so he may concentrate upon those duties that are his alone?"

She swore she would with an exasperated expression. _Assume charge of his wealth? Manage his possessions responsibly?_ _I'm not some tax fixing person he hired._

Then, Lord Fendrel drew a red ribbon from his sleeve and commanded: "Cross your wrists." They did so, and he wrapped the ribbon three times around their wrists then tied it in a bowknot. "As is my right as the lord of Beirland, I now declare you man and wife!"

The crowd of nobles clapped respectfully, a few cheered, their yelps reverberating off the widely spaced walls of the hall. Then Lady Jolecia walked steadily up to Eva, the crown shimmering on its cushion. Galbatorix reached out and took the crown from its resting place and said: "This is the crown that once belonged to Queen Naida of the Broddring Kingdom. Now it belongs to Queen Evangelina of the Empire." He then turned and placed the crown upon her head, and the nobles clapped and cheered. Then Galbatorix leaned toward Eva and gave her her first kiss. _Eww! Get off! _The crowd's clapping strengthened at this and a few more people cheered.

They turned, then, toward the crowd and Galbatorix declared: "Let the feast begin!"

A group of minstrels came in while they led the way to the tables full of food, and the guests lined up to offer their congratulations and gifts. The first in line was Lady Lorelle.

"This is a happy day for the Empire your majesties. " She said. "I present to you a gilded egg, I had it crafted by Maddox, the famed craftsman of Belatona." She presented the egg, it was the size of a large kitten and was made of solid gold. It was studded with jewels of all sorts and it stood on three ornate legs.

It was very pretty but Eva gave a meager thanks, it would technically belong to Galbatorix anyway, not her.

The other guests presented similar gifts, jewelry, fine cloth, and Lord Marcus Tábor presented a finely crafted sword and shield. Morzan had no gift, he sat opposite Galbatorix and drained goblet after goblet of wine.

Eva was a little hesitant about drinking her wine, in America she was underage, but here there was no drinking age, still she wasn't sure what kind of effect it would have on her. She took a tentative sip. _Eyuck!_ It was bitter. She put her goblet down and began picking at her food. The center piece of their meal was a fat roast pig with a big red apple in its mouth. Pigs with apples in their mouths was something she had only seen on TV so she was intrigued when she had first seen it.

Her dragon scarfed down the untouched pig leg on her plate. When he was done he looked up at her, licking his lips happily. _At least you're enjoying yourself._ She thought to him in Japanese. He cocked his head. She often spoke to him in Japanese, she had learned the language all throughout her schooling and had quite a good hold on it, she could watch subbed anime without reading the subbing.

Galbatorix made occasional comments to her about how lovely the food and gifts where but said nothing more. She expected he was thinking of spells to bind her to him, or still trying to think of her true name. He hadn't yet said a word about the matter so she wasn't sure if he knew she had no true name. _It's possible he already figured it out, he's smart enough. But then he might not have because he's so arrogant. He might be determined to find my true name. Either way I still have no idea._

The feast went on for two more hours and then slaves brought in desert, there where cakes piled two feet high, jelly with fruits and nuts suspended in them, little bowls of candy, and it all filled up the huge two meter long table.

Lord Fendrel sat next to Eva, going on about his beautiful wife and son while she stabbed her cake with a fork. She wasn't eating it or listening to Lord Fendrel who was quite happy to ramble on his own. She had never met such a talkative man before he reminded her of a character from a mystery novel, a woman who continuously talked even if the person she was talking to had moved on to something else.

The guests stayed long after the fest was over and talked and some of the men started sparing tournaments in the middle of the hall. Some dancers where brought in, mainly to entertain the men and some of the ladies present, began dancing as well. Eva didn't pay much attention to them either; she followed Galbatorix wherever he went and held her dragon in her arms, rubbing his head. A few people came up to her and tried to begin conversations but she wasn't inclined to converse, she only gave them short answers and didn't elaborate on anything so that they got bored and excused themselves.

_When is this going to end?_ She thought impatiently. _Are they going to stay all night?_ She knew that in medieval Europe, kings would have three or four day parties and often began another party the day after the first one ended. She hoped that this one would not take three days, she didn't think she would survive three days in a corset.

She was relieved when the last guest finally left and the servants began to clean up. There was a lot to clean up, the lords and ladies had made a huge mess, for such well-dressed people they were very messy, they ate with no table manners either, and surprisingly did not get their clothes dirty in the process.

Galbatorix took her to his room and untied the ribbon that held them together.

"I'm not bearing your heir's if that's what you're thinking." She said stubbornly. She had finally gotten to the point that she was no longer afraid of him, or rather she was bit afraid of him but not so much as to quail in fear in his presence.

"I have no interest in children." He said in a board voice as he removed his crown and placed it on a cushion. "I have no use for them. Horrid things." Confused she asked:

"Then what did you marry me for?" He surveyed her for a moment.

"Because you are different. I have never met someone that I could not decipher. I have always been able to find a true name." He examined her again then continued. "For one who is ignorant of magic and the Ancient Language, you seem to know much more than you should about true names." _Ah! Dammit!_ She had forgotten to play ignorance when he was searching for her name. She had expressed knowledge of it after her dragon had hatched. _Dam. I have to come up with something quick!_

"I heard of true names, from some people in the street. They were talking about it, two men, before I ran into you. I think they might have been spell casters. They looked like the type. At least that I've read about in books at home." She silently congratulated herself for coming up with such an excellent lie on the spot.

Galbatorix considered her for a moment. "Are you sure this is the truth? You are not lying to me?" Eva forced herself to stay calm and act natural.

"Of course. I heard them talking and I thought I heard them say something about Seattle so I stayed and listened in on them. They said a true name was a name that fit you perfectly, it could be in any language and if someone else discovered it they could control you." Of course she knew that it had to be in the Ancient Language but she stuck the falsehood in there just to make it more convincing.

"I see." He seemed to believe it. "Only you are wrong in one point. The name must be in the Ancient Language, the language of the elves, in order for it to be true. It can be translated into any other language, yes, but then it would have no power. Only in the tongue of the elves does it have the power to control a person's will."

"Oh . . ." She tried to look astonished, and a bit dim, she didn't want him thinking she was clever enough to devise a proper escape. She had been playing dumb ever since the second day, trying to look slow minded and unnoticing.

That night she slept in Galbatorix's chambers, as expected of her as the new queen. She ended up slapping him several times for what she considered inappropriate behavior and her dragon joined in by biting him and latching on with his jaws so that he flapped like a flag when Galbatorix tried to shake him off; she hoped that that wouldn't blow her cover as a dim girl. Unfortunately, being a mad king, he hit her even harder and she ended up with some very bad bruises in the morning.


	5. Chapter 5 The Escape

"Quiet!" Eva hissed as her dragon squeaked loudly. They were sneaking out of the citadel again, this time with Gelsey. Eva was wearing a tunic and pants;, she had ordered Gelsey to get them for her the day before.

Eva shifted the dragon in her arms; he had become a little bigger over the two weeks since the wedding and it made him a bit awkward to carry and it certainly didn't help that Galbatorix had given her large splotchy bruises all over her body. She clamped her hand around his mouth trying to silence him but she could still hear faint squeaks that echoed dangerously down the halls. coming from his mouth.

"Shhhhh!" She said trying to make him understand the gravity of the situation with her mind.

"What was that!?" Gelsey squeaked in Eva's ear.

"It's nothing."

"I'm sure I heard something ma' lady." Gelsey had been on edge ever since Eva had told her the plans for escape. It had taken Eva a lot of reminding, following, and spying to keep her from letting slip that they were plans. It wasn't that she was bad at keeping secrets; it was that she was so scared of the idea that she wanted someone to confide in. Eva had given her the option offor staying but she had refused in spite of her fear.

Gelsey was staring down the long hall to the right as though she expected someone to come walking along it or perhaps sneaking along to see what they were up to.

"There's nothing there." Eva reassured her. "I already checked that hall with my mind, I didn't sense anyone." Gelsey gazed up at her with admiration but she still looked nervous.

What Eva had said was a lie, it was too dangerous for her to search with her thoughts, Galbatorix wasn't there, he was in Kuasta to straighten something out with piratepirates-sorcerers, but she didn't want to touch the mind of Morzan or one of Galbatorix's spell casters and alert them to her presence, she wouldn't be able to escape from them, she didn't know how to use magic and she didn't have a weapon.

"Let's keep going." She whispered to Gelsey. They kept to the shadows as much as possible and eventually made it to the kitchen.

"Where's the door?" Gelsey led them to a battered wooden door that opened to a narrow ally at the back of the citadel. There were no guards positioned there as it wasas a servant'sservants entrance. They quietly made their way down the alley and stopped at the end. They had to get to the great wall surrounding the city and lower themselves down from the top with the rope Eva had in her backpack.

"Let's make a run for it over to that building." Eva pointed to a large red house casting a dense dark shadow. Gelsey nodded nervously and they prepared to run.

"There you are!" Eva froze, Gelsey screamed, the dragon squeaked. Eva quickly turned and saw Lady Lorelle striding regally toward them in a night gown. She had a very regal anger about her; she was a lady after all.

When she caught up with them she stopped and glared down at Gelsey. The girl shrank under the force of her stare and looked down at her feet, then Lady Lorelle's expression changed to concern as she turned to Eva.

"Your majesty, what are you doing out here? It's midnight!"

"Shhhhh. Please, don't talk so loudly," She glanced at the windows around them. "Were trying to escape." But Lady Lorelle didn't lower her voice.

"Your majesty, it is my duty to instruct you to become a proper queen, and if I may say so, this is certainly _not_ the proper behavior for a queen." She looked her up and down. "And you're even wearing men's clothes!"

"I'm not staying to be Galbatorix's slave!" Eva hissed.

"You are notbot his slave, you are his wife."

"He forced me to marry him because I'm a Rider." Lady Lorelle appeared shocked.

"Why would his majesty do that? He married you because he needs a wife and an heir."

"He doesn't want an heir! An heir would challenge him, he wants to be king forever!" Lady Lorelle paused; she seemed to be contemplating her words.

"Of course an heir would challenge him. But he must have one in order to continue his ruling family."

"He doesn't want that, he wants all the power for himself. He doesn't care about having a ruling family. Besides, he's gonna live forever anyway if no one does anything about it!" Lady Lorelle seemed to think for a while.

"I can believe that . . . Then he does not care for you?"

"No. He just wants to control me. Being married is just an excuse for treating me any way he wants." Lady Lorelle took on a pitying expression.

"If he hashad wronged you than you should go."

"He has." She looked back at the door to the kitchen.

"Then, I will leave you be. Go, I will not tell anyone of what has happened here." Eva thought for a moment.

"Come with us."

"What?"

"Come with us. If you don't want to live under Galbatorix's thumb." Lady Lorelle shook her head.

"I cannot. I have my obligations to Lord Bradburn."

"Do you really feel that much for him?"

"No, but he is my husband and I must serve him."

"No offense but that sounds kind of lame."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that sounds like a pretty lame life, just serving him."

"A wife must serve her husband. It is her duty."

"Not where I come from it isn't." Lady Lorelle gave her a strange look.

"You certainly are odd aren't you? Now, you must go. I must return to my quarters before I am missed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, now go." She waved, motioning for them to leave. Eva nodded, got Gelsey to turn around and they ran together toward the shadow of the red house.

They stopped there, watching for any signs of other people; Eva looked back at where Lady Lorelle had been but was disappointed when she saw that the fair woman was gone.

When they were sure no one was coming they dashed off to another shadow. They continued to do this until they reached a tall elegant building, not one of the towers that stretched up toward the overhanging cliff, but a shorter one that had a similar look to the towers. They dashed across to its shadow, there was a clump of grass growing in a crack between the base of the house and the street, as she came to a stop her foot caught on something metallic hidden in the grass, a piece of gilded armor went clattering across the cobblestones and something else came bouncing out of it making a clinking noise like a glass goblet being struck by a knife.

"Oi! What was that!?" She heard a soldier say from atop the wall. They were very near the wall now, which meant there would be more watchmen.

Eva, Gelsey, and the dragon pulled back until they were flat against the wall of the elegant house, then Eva noticed that the thing that had clanked like glass was a blue jewel, and it was glowing, bathing the surrounding houses in a pale blue light. The guard would definitely notice that, Eva quickly ran out, scooped the jewel up in one hand, and ran back to their hiding place. There, she held the jewel tight in her hands so that the houses around them stayed unlit.

"I'm sure I heard something." She heard the soldier say.

"I heard it too." Said a second soldier. Eva felt her gedwëy ignasia tingle as it came into contact with the jewel.

"Maybe a cat." Suggested the second soldier.

"Yeah, maybe." Then another soldier came from behind a house, he held a lantern and had his sword drawn. Eva and Gelsey held their breaths. The soldier looked around and noticed the piece of armor.

"Oi! You see something down there!?" The first soldier called down from the wall. The third soldier called back:

"No! Just a piece of armor! It's strange armor though!" He scrutinized the piece again. Eva pressed herself up against the wall even more. If he looked in their direction he might see them, but she hoped that the shadows would prevent that.

He scanned the area including where they were hiding.

"Was it a cat!?" The second soldier asked.

"Probably! But I'll check anyway!" He began walking around the street, looking into every shadow and corner. While he was looking in the other direction Eva pulled Gelsey around a corner and behind a pile of barrels. She put the jewel into her pocket without looking at it.

Eva continued to listen long after the guards stopped talking. She couldn't tell for sure if they had stopped searching, she couldn't see them. After about five minutes she peeked around the corner of the barrels, and gasped slightly when she saw the third soldier coming down the alley toward them. She looked back and realized that the alley was a dead end.

Now Eva was panicking, she had never been in this type of situation before. _Wait, I have to calm down. I need to think . . . _She placed the dragon on the ground. _What did I learn in katana class about frontal assaults?_ As the soldier came closer she thought up a plan and as soon as she saw his head looking behind the barrels she sprang into action.

Gelsey didn't even have time to scream, she poked his eyes with her fingers, kicked the back of his left knee, grabbed his sword, yanked his helmet off which made a loud clang as it hit the ground, and gave him a good smack on the back of his head with the sword hilt. He made another series of loud clangs as he hit the ground, unconscious.

"Oi! What was that!?" She heard the first soldier shout. "Oi! Where are you!?" Eva cleared her throat and hummed in a low tone before speaking:

"Knocked over some barrels! It was just a cat! Go back to watching outside!" She hoped that she had been convincing enough.

"Oi! That's not Burdan! Who are you!? Show yourself! Come out in the open where I can see you!"

_Damn it!_ She looked around; there was no way they could leave the alley without being seen. They could try and walk across the rooftops but that would make them good targets, they could just leave the way they came but the soldiers would still see them, but if they did that they could hide again afterwards.

She grabbed Gelsey by the sleeve and picked up the dragon and they went running right out of the alley and dashed across the street in the direction of the citadel.

"Oi! Who are you!?" The watchman yelled as they dashed back into the shadows.

She pulled Gelsey all the way back to the citadel, before they reached it she heard several soldiers searching for them, some of them caught sight of the three escapees and started to chase them. This was exactly what Eva wanted, she would lead them back to the citadel, maybe enter it if she happened to find a door, and then run back to the wall again. It was a pretty clever plan but the hard part was losing them once she got to the turning around part.

As they ran, Gelsey quietly whimpered and tripped occasionally. Eva tried to comfort her but nothing she said helped.

They were lucky enough to reach the kitchen door again and they rushed inside. Eva stopped to bar the door with a cabinet and rushed out into the hall. There was no one in the hall, the soldiers in the citadel hadn't been notified of them yet. They ran until they found another door, but it was locked. Frustrated, Eva ran to another door, locked again. _Aren't there any unlocked doors in this place?_

She visited as many doors as she could find and finally ended up at a dark side door that looked like only one person had used it since last December, it was locked to. She even tried to unlock it with her mind but there was some kind of spell on it.

"Damn it!" She said kicking the door in frustration. Gelsey whimpered into her shoulder.

"I heard something down that hall!" She heard a man call. _Damn! Now they heard me cursing!_ She looked around, they were surrounded, she could hear armored footsteps from every hall. Eva began to panic again; the only way to escape was if she could use magic.

As the footsteps where getting closer she suddenly felt a strange energy enter her body, an energy that she had to release. It flooded her mind and limbs, until she realized what it was.

"Jierda!" The door broke in half and she felt a sudden wave of fatigue, then ignoring her lack of energy, she grabbed Gelsey again as she dashed through the door. She wished that they had been able to leave in a less spectacular manor but she was glad that she could now use magic, it would help them escape.

The soldiers were now in hot pursuit, she could hear them behind as the three of them charged back toward the wall. She was dismayed to see that people where sticking their heads out of windows wondering what was going on, a few people saw the three runaways and pointed them out to soldiers within ear shot. Her dragon squeaked loudly at the commotion, he wanted to help, she could sense it, but what could he do?

Thy turned corner after corner, not caring where it led them, just as long as they could shake the soldiers off. Eventually they got far enough ahead of the soldiers that they could slip into someone's cellar. Eva quietly closed the dark wooden doors and listened at the crack, she heard the soldiers who had been chasing them pass, then more going this way and that, until it was fairly quiet. Cautious, she opened the door a crack, she didn't see anybody, she quickly ran through every ancient language word that she could remember from the books, which was a very pitiful amount. _Let's see jierda, brisingr, garjzla, shur'tugal, skublaka, argetlam, varden, helgrind, wyrda, stenr resa . . . that doesn't help much . . . _

She decided that sneaking out was still their best bet, so she opened the door even wider, still nothing, the coast was clear. She beckoned to Gelsey who was shaking, and they went off again, careful to avoid soldiers.

They were almost caught several times by soldiers running out of places they hadn't expected but they managed to stay hidden, when they reached the wall they walked along it searching for a door. They didn't have to go far until they found one, Eva quickly unlocked it and they ascended the ladder behind it. They were still careful when they reached the trap door at the top, before opening it they listened for footsteps. They had to wait, holding their breath, until one soldier passed. When they couldn't hear his footsteps anymore Eva opened the door a crack to check, she nearly dropped the door when she saw armored boots right next to it. He hadn't noticed her so she slowly closed the trap door and turned to put a finder to her lips. Gelsey got the message and went pale. They would have to either wait for the sentry to move on or go to another door. Eva thought for a moment, if they stayed here he might not move until it was time for the guard to change and then they would be stuck between the soldier coming up the ladder and the soldier coming down the ladder, Eva found that unfavorable so she motioned for Gelsey to go back down. She continuously reminded the dragon that he had to be quiet; he was sitting on her shoulders, tail and neck wrapped around her neck.

They looked before they exited the wall then ran along it looking for another door, they quickly found one and ascended the ladder in that one too. Eva listened, no one, then she cracked the door like before, and found no sentry. She let out her pent up breath, but the knot in her stomach remained, they weren't out yet, but they were close.

Eva quietly climbed out of the trap door, keeping low to the floor, there were other sentry stationed around the wall and they would see if she suddenly popped up. She motioned for Gelsey to do the same, then Eva took the rope out of her backpack. There was a lot of it but she was still doubtful that it would reach the ground. She fastened the metal hook on one end securely to the wall and let the rest of it drop. She looked over the edge and saw that it hung just over a yard from the ground, a distance they could drop from. She motioned for Gelsey to go first, she nervously climbed over the edge and grasped the rope. When she was just a foot down she looked down and turned even paler than before, if that was possible.

_Don't look down._ Eva mouthed, as Gelsey looked up with a fearful expression, but that didn't seem to help, she was frozen with fear. _Keep going._ She mouthed, while waving and pointing, but it was no use.

Finally Eva reached out with her mind and touched Gelsey's. _Look, you have to keep going! You'll be fine, just don't look down. If you stay there any longer you'll run out of strength to hold on._ Gelsey seemed surprised when she heard Eva's voice.

_Oh my! I have the lady's voice in my head._ Eva heard her think, then she started moving again. She slowly made it to the ground and then it was Eva's turn. The height was rather intimidating, she had to admit, but she couldn't let it stop her, she had to escape. She put her legs over the wall and grabbed hold of the rope, it was rough and made her hands hurt but she grabbed hold of it anyway and began to descend.

It took her much less time to reach the ground, mainly because she didn't freeze up part of the way, as soon as she reached the ground they headed off into the snow, leaving the city and soldiers behind them.


	6. Chapter 6 The Dream

The dragon jumped off Eva's shoulder and played in the snow as they walked. Again, Eva marveled at how snow-like his scales were; he blended in with the pure white ground as though he were meant to live in the artic.

It had snowed since her first day in Alagaësia so the path she had made before had disappeared, but she knew the general direction to her room. Gelsey starred around her as though seeing snow for the first time.

"Haven't you seen snow before?" Eva asked. Gelsey nodded.

"I have seen snow ma' lady. But I haven't seen this much all at once."

"Haven't you ever been outside Urû'baen before?" She shook her head.

"No ma' lady." Eva was surprised by her answer.

"Why not?"

"I've been a slave in the citadel ever since I was born." She said. "Slaves are not permitted to leave the citadel unless we need to buy food or carry messages."

"So you barley ever see the city?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you wanted to come with me?" She looked shocked as though Eva had suggested something improper.

"No, no! I came because I am your servant! I would never be so rash as to escape for my own freedom! It is my duty to be your servant ma' lady, until the day I die!"

"I really don't need a servant." Eva said with concern. She felt uncomfortable having someone serve her. "So please stop calling me lady." Gelsey shook her head.

"A servant must call her mistress by her proper title."

"But I'm not a lady."

"You are the queen." There was a long, awkward silence as they walked and shivered in the cold. After a while Eva looked back at Urû'baen to check how far they had gone. She was surprised when she found she couldn't see it. _We can't have gone that far yet._ She asked Gelsey about it but she just shook her head.

"I know nothing of traveling ma' lady." Eva stopped and looked around. There was nothing but snow and darkness. The dark landscape seemed uncommonly black for some reason, there had been lanterns lit in the streets of Urû'baen, but out here it was so dark that she had difficulty seeing her feet.

_I've been outside during the night before but it was never this dark. Where are we?_ She scanned the darkness searching for an answer and finally she realized the problem, streetlights. She was used to having streetlights at night. In America, even when traveling on country roads there were bound to be some streetlights or just the headlights of your car. Right now they weren't in a car and there was no such thing as lanterns outside of cities so it was pitch dark.

She felt extremely stupid for not realizing this before; of course there were no streetlights out here. She was just about to continue walking when she looked up. She gasped at the sight, there where so many stars, more stars than she had ever seen before. She could have spent all night starring at them but a cold wind shook her out of her revelation. It was too cold to be out starring at the stars.

They walked until they reached the river and Eva realized they had overshot the cave by about a hundred yards. She sighed.  
"I guess we gotta go back." And they turned around in search of the cave. They wandered in the show, tired and cold until finally they found the stone outcropping.

"Yes! There it is!" Eva shouted in excitement. Despite her weariness she ran to the rock and walked around it looking for the cave. She quickly found it and opened the door. Everything was just as she had left it. The dragon jumped up on her bed and coiled himself up; Gelsey came around and entered with an awed expression.

"What is this place?" She asked.

"It's my room." Eva answered. "I know it looks a little weird but this is it." She pulled Gelsey in by the sleeve and closed the door to block out the cold, although it was already pretty cold in the room. She instinctively tried the light switch but of course it didn't work, so she looked around for a flashlight which she found on her dresser. It was a little silver flashlight, meant for reading in the dark, but it did the trick.

"More magic!" Gelsey gasped. Eva laughed.

"No, this is a flashlight. It's not magic." But Gelsey looked doubtful.

Eva searched her bookshelf for the Inheritance books. She found them on a lower shelf and put them in her pack for safekeeping. She then turned to Gelsey and said:

"Let's sleep here for the night. We can continue in the morning." Gelsey nodded.

"Where shall I sleep ma' lady?"

"I have a sleeping bag." She went to her closet and brought out a red role. She unrolled the sleeping bag and laid it out for Gelsey then took one of the pillows from her bed and put it at the head. Then, she took a fluffy blanket out from her closet and laid it under the sleeping bag.

"Here, you just have to unzip it like this," she unzipped it. "And you climb in and zip it back up." Gelsey looked a bit cautious of the sleeping bag.

"It growls," she said, referring to the sound of the zipper. "And won't it suffocate me?" Eva shook her head.

"It's not growling, that's just the zipper, it's kind of like buttons except faster to do and undo. And it won't suffocate you; it's made to be slept in." Gelsey tentatively lay down in the sleeping bag and Eva zipped it up for her.

"Oh! Why does it make that sound!?" She said as Eva zipped it up.

"It's ok. It won't bite you."

"Then it _is_ alive?" She asked shocked.

"No, no. It's dead. It was never alive in the first place."

With that Eva climbed into her own bed and covered herself with the sheets. The dragon climbed up to her pillow and slept next to her head. She was grateful for his warmth; it helped her get to sleep.

As she slept, she experienced all kinds of fantastical dreams. Once, she was flying on her own while her dragon soared next to her. He was still the same size as he was in life, but he soared as though he were a mature dragon.

They flew until they entered a mountain cave then the dream abruptly ended. She was standing halfway up a steep cliff covered in fresh green grass. Over the cliff Eva could see the ocean and atop the cliff she could see a slender woman garbed in a flowing white tunic and trousers. The wind whipped around the woman making her long silver hair wave like a flag.

Eva slowly approached her; she seemed to not notice Eva, so she continued on until she was standing right behind her. Then, the woman turned and looked at her. She didn't seem surprised to see Eva, rather she looked as though she had been expecting her. She smiled sadly, and Eva realized that she was an elf.

'Who are you?' She tried to ask but when she spoke the words did not come out. The elf woman nodded. _Why is she nodding?_ Eva wondered.

Eva could feel the elf's sadness as she looked into her eyes, and she began to feel it as her own sadness, the feeling was so overwhelming that a tear dropped down her cheek. _Why are we sad?_ She wondered. Then the elf reached out with her hand and grasped Eva's right hand. She felt her gedwëy ignasia tingle, she looked down and saw that the elf's right hand bore the gedwëy ignasia as well. _She's a Rider! Is that why she's so sad?_ The elf woman nodded again.

_Who are you?_ She asked with her mind as she began to feel a pulling sensation. The elf only smiled.

Then she was back in her room. She sat up, wondering where she was and remembered that she wasn't on the cliff anymore, that it had just been a dream. _I wonder what time it is._ She looked over at Gelsey who was struggling with her sleeping bag. She had managed to get it partway unzipped but she was having problems completing the unzipping process.

"Oh, ma' lady! Er, how do I get out?" Eva suddenly bent over in uncontrollable giggles, Gelsey looked confused. She laughed so hard that her sides began to hurt and her cheeks burned from smiling; she felt as though she hadn't laughed in a while, which was true. It was a few minutes before she could finally get up and help Gelsey out of her trap.

"I'm sorry – " A few more giggles escaped her. "You just looked so funny. I've never seen anyone have so much trouble with a sleeping bag before." She freed Gelsey and the girl jumped out of the thing as though she thought it would bite her. Eva had to fight more laughter when she did this, but she suppressed it, and began to roll the sleeping bag up again.

The dragon woke up and stretched while yawning, rather like a cat. After stretching he fluttered down to where Eva was rolling up the sleeping bag and sniffed at her pocket. Eva ignored him until he stuck his head in and pulled something out, it was the jewel that had nearly caused them to be caught last night. It wasn't glowing anymore but it still seemed to have some sort of inner light. She picked it up, it was a smooth light blue jewel with a wide tear drop shape, it had two runes carved into it and the carving was filled in with gold leaf, and there was a splotch of blood covering half of it. She recognized the runes as part of the elves' script which she couldn't remember the name of. The whole thing was connected to a black thread, it was a necklace.

"Oh . . . that's . . ." Gelsey said starring at the jewel.

"It's beautiful, except for the blood." She turned it over and saw a gilded picture carved into the other side. It was a thick broad leafed tree with the full moon hanging over it; the carving was so detailed that she could see each and every leaf on the tree, and the ridges on the trunk, and the craters on the moon. Elf's work, she knew immediately, not just because of the rune on the front but because of the detail of the picture, no human or dwarf would have the skill or patience to carve out every single leaf on the tree or every single crater on the moon. _This must have been left behind after the battle at Ilirea. Or maybe the elf who owned it was killed._ She looked at the blood covering it. _This must be elves' blood._

The dragon reached up and sniffed it. In her mind she could sense that he recognized the scent, a picture of Shruikan formed in his thoughts. _It's dragon's blood?_ She turned the jewel, admiring how the light reflected on it, although there wasn't much light in the room.

She stood and tied it around her neck.

"Since I found it there's no sense in not wearing it." She said.

"I will clean the blood off ma' lady."

"No, I think it should be left there. It's dragon's blood, this necklace belonged to a Rider." _Maybe the Rider in my dream last night. Maybe this is why I saw her._

After that she unpacked several bags full of the jewelry Lady Lorelle had given her as a dowry and the jewelry Galbatorix had given to her on her first day in Alagaësia. Technically Galbatorix owned her dowry jewels but he didn't need any more money, he had enough already.

She would keep some of the pieces Lady Lorelle had given, but the rest she would sell. She would have sold it all but Lady Lorelle had given them to her from her own collection; it would seem like an insult to just get rid of them all.

She poured them out on her bed and began to pick out the ones she liked. They were all so beautiful it was hard to decide. The first one to go was the pearl hair net, she didn't have a use for that, then several heavy necklaces went, and some broaches with huge jewels on them. It took her a while but she finally sorted out her favorites and dumped the rest into the bags.

After that was done she scanned her book shelf for any books she thought they might need, she picked out an unofficial guide to the Inheritance Cycle, a book on edible and non-edible plants, an Old Norse dictionary (from when she had attempted to write an Inheritance Fanfic), a Magical Creatures Encyclopedia, and a mystery novel for some light reading.

Then she began searching throughout the room for things they might need or things she didn't want people messing with if they happened to find her room, like her laptop, her cell phone, her AP US history textbook, her i-pod, a necklace her grandmother had given her, some pictures, a dragon stuffed animal, a folding fan, her practice swords, and her real sword.

Her dad had gotten her this sword for Christmas, he had brought her to a store and had her pick out which one she liked. It was a katana or samurai sword, it was long and curved, and had one very sharp edge.

When she unsheathed it Gelsey gasped. Eva eyed it uncertainly, she had never thought she would ever have to use it for real, she had always regarded it as a decoration. She used to take lessons from a teacher outside of Seattle because he had been the only teacher they could find. She had seen katana in anime and manga and wanted to take lessons, so she begged her parents to find her a teacher. She was by no means a master but she could practice while they traveled.

"I'm not very good," She said to Gelsey. "But this will make traveling safer." She picked up her bow which had been leaning against the wall. It was a modern recurve bow, the arrows were all rubber tipped. She starred at it for a long time contemplating whether she should take it or not. It was made out of fiberglass and carbon, that would draw attention, and the rubber tipped arrows wouldn't help much, they would cause painful bruises but they would never pierce the flesh. She strung it and twanged it a couple of times. _It might hold up once I have the strength of an elf._ She thought. _But it might not . . . Is it really worth it?_ She didn't want to leave it behind, she loved her bow. _I'll decide while I pack._ And she put it back where it had been.

She packed everything in the leather packs they had brought with them, her backpack would look suspicious. She packed her Psyduck pencil pouch, a pack of colored pencils, her Gaara wallet, her violin music, she stuffed her I love NY purse in one pack, several changes of clothing, a couple of hats, and some warm jackets. She was thankful for the leather boots she had donned before leaving Urû'baen, they had kept her feet warm and dry in the snow.

When she was done she stuffed all the extra batteries she could find in her violin case which was bright yellow, and decided to pick up her bow as well. She didn't like how heavy the packs were but she didn't want to leave some of that stuff behind for Galbatorix to discover.

Gelsey had stayed tucked away in a corner not knowing what to do with herself. Most of the stuff in her room was alien to her and frightened her. Eva made no effort to comfort her because she had to pack as fast as possible, she feared that a search party would be sent out to follow their tracks in the snow and she didn't want to be around when they found her room.

Just before they left, Eva took out a pair of scissors and cut her hair to its original boyish length. Gelsey protested saying that it was a crime to cut a woman's hair to such short lengths but she ignored her, then she took some bandages from the packs and removed her shirt. Sitting half naked, she beckoned Gelsey over and handed the bandages to her.

"Can you tie them tight around my chest? So it's flat like a boy?" Gelsey looked shocked at the idea.

"Ma' lady! You mustn't!"

"Come on. You know it's weird to see women traveling alone. If I pretend to be your brother no one will think twice about us."

"Ma' lady, you are too beautiful!" Eva was beginning to get tired of Gelsey's constant gasping and holding her hands to her heart.

"It's ok. No one will know if you do a good job of it." It took a bit of convincing but she finally got Gelsey to bind her chest until it was flat. It hurt, and the unfamiliar pressure bothered her but she knew she would soon get used to it; at least it was better than a corset.

After that she walked over to a small pile of makeup kits. She never used them but relatives had always given them to her for her birthday, for Christmas, for Easter, and all they did was sit in a corner and collect dust, but now she had a use for them. Normally she hated the feeling of makeup on her face but if it would help to disguise her then she would gladly wear it. The only two things she was afraid of where smudging and not being able to put it on properly. She had never used makeup before, not even lipstick, what if it turned out she couldn't apply it properly and she would be discovered? She looked at Gelsey, she probably knew how to put makeup on, she had probably put it on nobles before.

"Do you know how to put makeup on?" She asked the girl.

"Yes ma' lady. I've put makeup on the great Lady of Ceunon. She's very picky." She replied, rather proudly.

"Can you put this on me?" She asked holding up one makeup kit. Gelsey shook her head.

"I've never seen that before ma' lady."

"It's ok. It says what it is on the package . . . See? This one's eyeliner." Confirming Gelsey's abilities, Eva packed an array of different colors of makeup she thought would be useful for disguise.

She was able to fit everything into two packs, Eva carried one and Gelsey carried the other, they had food from the kitchens stuffed in them as well so they wouldn't starve.

Eva was relived to find that it had snowed during the night and covered up their tracks. They were careful to stay out of sight of Urû'baen so that their new tracks could not be seen easily, but once they were a fair distance away Eva pulled out the map she had stolen. It had all of the Empire filled in and most of the Hadarac Desert but Du Weldenvarden and the Beor Mountains where blank.

"Let's see . . ." She said as she took out a compass she had discovered in a drawer in her room. They were going in the right direction, they were headed to Bullridge, the closest village, they would follow the Ramr River to it. As they came to the river they stopped to fill their water skins. Eva had left behind her water bottle because it would look odd.

The dragon drank from the river in big gulps then rested on her shoulders. He was done playing in the snow. She had brought along her mirror for the dragon because he had discovered it in her room and would not stop looking in it. He found his reflection extremely entertaining, the only way to get him out of the room was to take the mirror with them, she now had it strapped to her pack and he was hanging his head down from her shoulders so he could look in it.

Eva found this form of travel very irritating. She kept speeding up and then getting out of breath, and it was still cold, despite the many jackets she wore, she began to miss her parent's Toyota where she would be warm and comfy. She didn't know how long it would take them to get to Bullridge, Eragon had never gone to the tiny village but he had passed by it with Murtagh in the first book. But that didn't help her with time and distance, he hadn't reached it from Urû'baen, he had reached it from Gil'ead, and he had travelled at night as well.

She hoped that they would make it there quickly, she wanted to get as far away from Urû'baen and Galbatorix's influence as fast as possible.


	7. Chapter 7 The Village

During the week it took them to reach Bullridge, Eva thought about her magic. _I used magic! This is awesome!_ She thought of all the spells that she could now learn to cast, she would just have to look in the books. She hadn't read them thoroughly in a while, so she sat up and studied them each night before she went to sleep. She shared all the information with the dragon even though he didn't really understand it.

One night she was reading the chapter 'Revelation at Yazuac'.

"_They kept a swift pace in anticipation of the food and drink they would soon enjoy. As they approached the small houses, they could see smoke from a dozen chimneys, but there was no one in the streets."_ _I thought it was in Daret where they were ambushed by Urgals. Oh well._

"_A mountain of bodies rose above them, the corpses stiff and grimacing. Their clothes soaked in blood, and the churned ground was stained with it. Slaughtered men lay over the women they had tried to protect, mothers still clasped their children, and lovers who had tried to shield each other rested in death's cold embrace. Black arrows stuck out of them all. Neither young nor old had been spared. But worst of all was the barbed spear that rose out of the peak of the pile, impaling the white body of a baby."_

_That's disgusting_.

"_Eragon concentrated on leading the Urgals away from Brom. He slipped into a narrow passageway between two houses, saw it was a dead end, and slid to a stop. He tried to back out, but the Urgals had already blocked the entrance. They advanced, cursing him in their gravelly voices. Eragon swung his head from side to side, searching for a way out, but there was none."_

_Just like Eragon to get stuck . . . _

"_As he faced the Urgals, images flashed in his mind: dead villagers piled around the spear and an innocent baby who would never grow to adulthood. At the thought of their fate, a burning, fiery power gathered from every part of his body. It was more than a desire for justice. It was his entire being rebelling against the fact of death – that he would cease to exist. The power grew stronger and stronger until he felt ready to burst from the contained force."_

_Dude, that sounds like something from Naruto._

"_He stood tall and straight, all fear gone. He raised his bow smoothly. The Urgals laughed and lifted their shields. Eragon sighted down the shaft, as he had done hundreds of times, and aligned the arrowhead with his target. The energy inside him burned at an unbearable level. He had to release it, or it would consume him. A word suddenly leapt unbidden to his lips. He shot, yelling, 'Brisingr!'"_

_Fire! Yeah. _

"_The arrow hissed through the air, glowing with a crackling blue light. It struck the lead Urgal on the forehead, and the air resounded with an explosion. A blue shock wave blasted out of the monster's head, killing the other Urgal instantly. It reached Eragon before he had time to react, and it passed through him without harm, dissipating against the houses."_

_Cool. Can I try that?_

"_Eragon stood panting, then looked at his icy palm. The gedwëy ignasia was glowing like white-hot metal, yet even as he watched, it faded back to normal. He clenched his fist, then a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He felt strange and feeble, as if he had not eaten for days. His knees buckled, and he sagged against a wall." _

_Wait . . . He got __**that**__ tired after killing those Urgals? I thought he was perfectly fine._ She thought back to when she had broken the door in Urû'baen. _I should have been exhausted._

She reviewed the incident from when they reentered the citadel to when they left it. There had been so much confusion that it was hard to tell, but she thought she remembered a strange pressing on her thoughts, like someone touching her mind, and then a surge of energy. _Did someone help me?_ She wondered, then she thought of the Vault of Souls. _Maybe the dragons helped me._ A rush of excitement filed her. _The dragon's really helped __**me**__?_ _Cool!_

She didn't think that the dragons would know she as here but apparently they did. _I wonder if they know how I got here. _

After her revelation she tucked the book safely back into her pack and lay down to sleep. 

When they arrived at Bullridge, the dragon had gotten much larger. His head now reached her knees. Eva wondered how long it would be until he could talk.

"Ugh . . . I feel terrible . . ." She complained to Gelsey.

"We have been walking for quite some time." That was true, doing nothing but walking all day wore Eva out, she had never done so much exercising in her entire life.

By midday Eva was walking into Bullridge. It looked pretty much like how she had imagined it, like Carvahall. Gelsey had made camp outside the village where she would take care of the dragon and keep watch over their belongings. She had looked rather nervous about being alone but she had agreed.

Eva tried not to stand out too much, while at the same time watching the men and boys in the village, she tried to copy them as much as possible. She watched how they walked, how they stood, the kinds of gestures they made, and she listened in on their conversations as she passed by.

Normally she would have been excited to see a medieval village like this but after everything that had happened she didn't feel like being excited. Every few seconds, images of Galbatorix would torment her and threaten to pull her into a dark depression that she knew she wouldn't be able to pull herself back out of. It seemed as if she could remember every word, every touch of his hand with precise detail. She tried hard to bury the memories in a deep clump of sarcastic optimism, but they always broke through, each time more intense than the last.

While battling with her memories she kept an eye out for someone who looked like they could afford her jewels. She had a small bag of them in her pocket, she wouldn't sell them all at once, that would look too suspicious. She would sell them bit by bit in different locations so that the buyers wouldn't notice any irregularities, if they did they would be able to report this to someone who might be trying to find her.

As she walked down the main street she remembered something from Eldest. Oromis had Eragon meditate on a stump so he could sense everything around him. Maybe she could try that, although she was doubtful, she had never contacted anything other than her dragon before, she tentatively reached out looking for something living, it was difficult. She found the sensation sickening, she felt as though she would drift off into space and become detached from her body, but she forced herself to reach out more until she touched another mind, it was feint, but it was a mind, after close inspection she found that it was a dog, it was busy scratching itself in an awkward place, so she quickly pulled away from it. After that she kept to her own mind.

Just then a young man passed her, she quickly caught his shoulder and asked him where she might find a buyer for her jewelry. The man pointed her to a house on the edge of the village. She reached the house which had a sign dangling over it, it had a picture of a small silver working hammer and an anvil painted on it, she could hear loud metallic bangs coming from the other side of the house.

The building looked very old and worn, the wooden walls were splintering, the painted sign was peeling, and the windows were so dirty that she couldn't see inside. She decided to walk around back, there, she found a man hammering away at a silver goblet. She waved when the man noticed her.

"Come over here! I'm nearly finished!" She walked over as he struck a few finishing blows and dunked the goblet in a barrel of water. He inspected it for a moment then, with a satisfied grin he turned to Eva.

"What can I do for you lad?" For a moment Eva was confused. _Lad?_ Then with a jolt she remembered she was disguised as a boy. _I can't forget!_

"Oh - yes . . ." Her voice cracked as she shifted from American accent to British accent. "I have some jewelry I want to sell. I was told you might be interested in buying." The man scratched his stubble for a moment in contemplation.

"Well, I'd hate dismantling beautiful works, being a maker of beautiful works myself." He gave her a wink. "But it depends on how beautiful these beautiful works are, let's go inside and talk." Eva followed the man toward his house, on their way he said: "Oh, and the name's Elis."

"I'm . . . " She suddenly realized that she hadn't thought of a name. "Brom." She spat out the first name that came to mind. _Brom? Reeeally? _The man nodded as he showed her through the door. "Brom, that's a good strong name." He said.

The interior was fairly clean, but vacant. There was a lot of open table, wall, and floor space. Having lived as a middle class citizen in her old world the emptiness surprised her.

There was a young woman tending to a pot of what Eva assumed was soup. She turned and said: "Elis, supper is almost done, and who is this?" She eyed Eva oddly.

"This is Brom. He wants to sell us some jewels." He then turned to Eva. "This is my wife Malle. My children are around here some where . . . But let's sit down and talk. Malle, make us some tea." Malle got to work making the tea and Elis and Eva got to discussing the jewelry. Eva took out the little bag containing a couple of necklaces and a medium sized broach. Elis whistled when he saw them and Malle leaned over the kitchen table to get a peak.

"These are fit for a lady." Elis commented.

"They are," Malle agreed. "Where did you get them?" Elis waved a hand to silence her. "It isn't our place to ask the lad where he got his things." Malle turned back to her cooking with a sour look, Eva was relieved that she wouldn't have to make up a story, but she also felt sorry for Malle, being shushed like that.

"My mother gave them to me to sell for money; her mother gave them to her." She felt she had to say something to poor Malle. She turned her head slightly to glance at Eva, then went back to pouring the tea. She brought the tea over and walked back to the kitchen in silence.

"Well, your grandmother had good taste. They are exquisite. How much are you asking for?" _I thought he didn't want to dismantle beautiful works. Oh well, as long as he's buying. _

"Three hundred crowns."

"Now, they can't be worth that much can they? How about one hundred?"

"Two hundred, no lower." Elis scratched his stubble while he thought. "Are you sure one hundred fifty isn't reasonable?"

"Two hundred, no lower." There was a slight pause, then, "Alright, two hundred it is." He stepped into the next room to get the money while Eva sipped her tea awkwardly. He came back with a bunch of gold coins. Eva put them in her pocket, having no coin purse to store them in.

"Well, I should go." She said, awkwardly trying to excuse herself.

"Your leaving already? Why don't you stay? You can have supper with us."

"Oh no . . . My mother is waiting for me."

"Ah right. Well it was nice doing business with you lad." She nodded.

"Yes."

Outside, the air was warmer than it had been before, although it was still cold. She happily made her way out of the village and to the camp where Gelsey was desperately trying to get the dragon down from a tree. As soon as the dragon saw her he flew down from the and landed in her arms. She scratched his head with two fingers.

"Hello Moony, I'm back, and I have money." Moony was a nickname she had come up with for the dragon she had borrowed it from Harry Potter. "Do you think it was a fair price?" She asked as she pulled out the money. Gelsey counted it.

"I don't know ma' lady. But it will pay for food."

"Should we buy supplies here? I think we have plenty." They had a month's worth of supplies in their bags. "What we really need are horses. It's really hard to carry all this stuff. I think we have enough to get three." They decided that she would go back into town the next day and buy horses. In the meantime Eva studied the books. She had a list of dragon names going, she wanted a varied selection when Moony was old enough to choose his own name.

Not all of the names were from the book, she had: Ohen, Azizi, Jura, Iormûngr, Spyro, Ingothold, Yuki, Koyuki, Conan, Lateef, Hexus, Astor, Kage, Yukikage, Hiyuki, Cyprin, Cosmos, Naruto, Hírador, Gretiem, Galzra, Fundor, Cinder, Comet, Eridor, Vanilor, Aang, Fire-tongue, Ice-fang, Deynor, Beroan, Gilderien, Fäolin, Bid'Daum, Briam, Acallamh, Belgabad, Roslarb, Hii, Jolinar, Hoshi, Albus, and Tsukiko.

_I like Lateef, or Hiyuki. I wonder if he'll like them._ She scratched the dragon's head as she read. _It shouldn't be long until you can talk._ She thought to the dragon. _You're getting pretty big._ In a few weeks she expected him to be at her waist.

The next day Eva went into Bullridge again in search of horses. She found a small barn where a man stood brushing a fat little pony.

"Hello."

"Hello," said the man. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking to buy some horses and tack."

"How many?"

"Three that are fit for traveling, and a full set of tack for all three."

"Traveling eh? How much traveling are you doing?"

"A lot."

"Well, that'll cost you more than a farming horse."

"That's all right, I can pay." The man began gathering tack and said: "The name's Baldwin."

"I'm Haberth." This time she had come up with a name beforehand, she had read through Eragon and found a few names that she could use. She had memorized all of them for future use: Heberth, Evan, Neal, Roran, Garrow, Merlock, Sloan, Byrd, Albriech, and Dempton. They were all pretty easy to remember since most of them were mentioned quite often, but she still had a little trouble with Dempton.

"I'm afraid these are the only horses I have that are fit for hard traveling." Baldwin said as he led two fine looking horses up to her. "If you would like you can look over the others and choose one." Eva was rather hesitant, she didn't know anything about horses, but at least she could pretend to. She walked along the stables eyeing each horse, she saw a few that looked strong but didn't have the same build as the horses Baldwin had brought out. She guessed that they must be for hard labor, not running. After looking in every stall she made her decision.

"I'll take that one." She said and pointed to a large grey draft horse. The man looked rather astonished.

"A draft horse? Are you sure?"

"Of course. It's strong, it can walk long distances. It's perfect."

"But, it's a mare. Could I suggest this fine stallion?" And he gestured toward a dark brown draft horse.

"What's wrong with a mare? She can walk."

"Yes but she's not as strong. She'll give out faster." _Really? Dude, it's a horse._

"It's fine. I'm not traveling that hard." The man still looked a bit concerned but he opened the stall anyway and led the mare over to the other horses tied up outside.

"That'll be one hundred crowns." He said. Eva dug out the money and counted out the amount. She was glad Gelsey had taught her how to count crowns the night before; otherwise she would have looked like an idiot asking Baldwin how many coins made one hundred.

She quickly gave him the money and began leading the horses out of the village. She felt very odd leading horses; she had never touched a horse in her life and now she was leading three of them through a tinny medieval village, she didn't even have the faintest idea how to ride them.

_I feel like I should be riding one and leading the rest but I don't know how._ She wondered if she looked odd at all and hoped that Gelsey knew how to ride a horse.


End file.
